Thursday, 21 February 2013

Starting a story in the middle of action is fine if that’s the kind of
story you’re telling. Generally, that'd probably be something in the
adventure/thriller genre. But not all stories suit the kind of opening where
assassins are chasing a monkey over the rooftops of Buenos Aires (although I
have no doubt that book would be a huge hit).

And even if you are writing in that genre, you might prefer to build
up to those kind of scenes. Having someone hanging from a twelfth storey window
ledge can feel very hackneyed.We don’t know the character, we don’t know why he’s up there, and
frankly, we don’t care. It’s not always enough to just put some random person
in peril.

A high tempo opening scene might not be right for your story and it
quite often reads like an attempt by the writer to inject the story with drama
it hasn’t really earned and can feel contrived.

But an energetic set-piece out of an action movie isn’t the only way
to make the reader feel they’re in the middle of something interesting. Another
way a story can benefit from starting in the middle is to start in the middle
of emotion.

Unless a character is a newly produced replicant, chances are they
will enter your first scene in a particular mood. You can use that mood to pull
in the reader. It doesn’t really matter what that mood is, as long as it isn’t
neutral.

Often, because the story starts in normal mode, with weird stuff to
happen later, the main character is fairly relaxed. They may have certain
issues to deal with, but they’re dealing with them. While that’s perfectly
plausible and realistic, it’s also quite dull to read.

Just because they aren’t running for their life, doesn’t mean they
should just be treading water.

An easy way to lift them out of that kind of flat introduction is to
have them already emotionally affected by something. It doesn’t have to be a
big emotion, they don’t have to be angry and shouting, it can be sad, vengeful,
jealous, whatever. It depends on their personality and what situation they’re
in, that is to say it helps if you choose their emotional state to reflect the
type of person they are, and then express that emotion in a character specific
way.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that how you show the emotional state
to the reader makes a difference. Literally showing the emotion, i.e. tears on
the face of a sad person, spittle flying out of the mouth of an angry person
and so on, isn’t very engaging. It’s just vivid description (nothing wrong with
that, just not useful for our purposes here).

What works much more effectively is to show emotion through behaviour.
What are they doing because of the emotions they’re experiencing? Having them
sitting there thinking about stuff (which emotionally wrought people often do)
is not going to help you get the reader caught up in the start of the story.

And just because this technique can catch a reader’s attention doesn’t
mean it will without a little creativity on your part. A guy with a gun is
scary in real life, in fiction it’s any crappy TV show.

A direct cause and effect (he says he’s been cheating on her, she
bursts into tears) doesn’t offer much in the way of intrigue.

If a policeman knocks ona
woman’s door and tells her they’ve found her husband murdered and she punches
the air and whoops with joy, that’s a bit more attention grabbing.

And it makes for a more dynamic scene if the character’s emotions
interfere with what she needs to do. If the husband tells the wife he’s leaving
her at a wedding where she’s supposed to give a speech on the power of love,
you can get a lot of mileage out of how she reacts.

You can make this technique work for just about any emotion, but it’s
important to avoid anything that’s along the lines of stunned, traumatised,
bored, shy, icy, or any other emotion which is expressed through non-action.
Either that or find an active way to express it. Heart-broken people do spend a
lot of time in bed, but they also set fire to their ex-lover’s car.

Obviously, those “leave me alone” emotions exist and may be relevant
to characters in your story, but my point is specific to openings and using
emotions to hook readers. “Crawl into a hole” emotions won’t serve you there so
don’t use them.

@Mac - Most how-to books have that issue. The need to make information seem universal means they have to fudge the fact different types of stories require different techniques. So they end up trying to convince people every book should be written like an airport thriller, because that's what sells easiest.

I feel like the advice "start in the middle of action" tends to get misconstrued. Action doesn't have to mean chasing assassins across rooftops, or whatever; I feel like it can be as simple as the character reacting emotionally to something. I think the key thing is, something needs to change - or at least, those are my favorite openings.

@Stephanie - I'd agree with that, but that's generally how it's taken (and why it's resisted). Starting the story without context or explanation requires something of note to be happening to catch the reader's attention, and the easiest way to do that is to have a character in peril, but that certainly isn't the only way.

The high fantasy story I wrote starts in the middle of everything. I've queried it to one agent who hasn't gotten back to me about it yet. I've also sent it in to Harper Voyager and heard nothing (that was back in October). Who knows, HV may get around to thinking it's something they want. If so, then I can definitely say "starting in the middle is the way to go!"

Anyone besides me recall that short lived show where Chimps would reenact scenes from hit movies? I seem to recall the Chimp version of Braveheart to be very moving.

I think starting at the most interesting point is what everyone's goal is, or at least at the most interesting point that can be reasonably expected to serve as a beginning. I think action works better in movies than it does in books for an opening. So I'm right there with you.

You know, as much as I tend to agree with these posts of yours, you'd think I'd write much more compelling fiction. Go figure.